Lisbon fourth-grade teachers have received another grant for additional geographic information system instruction. From the left are Tara Ulman, Kathy Dow and Barbara Thompson, who are looking at several new books that came with the latest grant.

Lisbon teachers receive instruction grant

LISBON – Lisbon Community School’s Paw Print 4-H Club has received a second grant in three years from the Environmental Sensitivities Research Institute and Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service to continue teaching fourth-grade students about GIS (geographic information systems).

The grant provides newer user-friendly software and updated maps and data sets, as well as books about uses, GIS instruction and mapping the world.

Teachers have access to many geographic information system lessons online, links to the geographic information system membership in an institute users group and ongoing 24/7 technical assistance.

A GIS allows students to design and make their own computer-based maps.

Each map becomes interactive as students layer information to tell a story or answer a question about the world around them.

In the first grant cycle, fourth-graders mapped woody and herbaceous plants along the Papermill Walking Trail. They “marked” each plant using a GPS unit that recorded the location using longitude and latitude.

A base map was constructed on the computer using the local topographical map and aerial photos. On top of that map, students placed the points for the plants and the footprint for the school. The finished product was given to the trail commission who displayed it in the kiosk at Miller Park and filed on the Community Atlas Web site at www.esri.com/communityatlas.

This time fourth-graders in Kathy Dow’s room and Tara Ulman’s room, with the assistance of Barbara Thompson and her students, will explore the geographic theme of place as they answer the question, “What is it like there?”

Local history about place names will provide the content for the study, which will dovetail with grade level content in Maine’s Learning Results where students learn about famous Mainers.

Fourth-grade teachers need help with the project. They would like people who know the history of place names in the community to share that knowledge. Call Thompson, Dow or Ulman at 353-4132 or e-mail Thompson at [email protected].